'Social media to influence 160 Lok Sabha seats in next polls'

Social media is likely to influence 160 Lok Sabha seats in the next general elections, a study has said.

"There are 160 high impact constituencies out of the total of 543 constituencies, which are likely be influenced by social media during the next general elections," the study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and Internet and Mobile Association of India has said.

The state of Maharashtra has the maximum 21 high impact constituencies followed by Gujarat (17), the study Social Media and Lok Sabha Elections said.

High impact constituencies are those where the number of Facebook users is more than the margin of victory of the winner in the last Lok Sabha election, or where Facebook users account for over 10 per cent of total voters in a constituency.

Uttar Pradesh has 14 high impact constituencies, while Karnataka has 12 such seats. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala has 12, 11 and 10 such seats respectively.

Madhya Pradesh has nine high impact constituencies while Delhi has seven, the study said.

Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan have five high impact constituencies each while Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and West Bengal have four constituencies, the study said.

There are a total of 67 constituencies, which have been identified as medium impact constituencies, while the rest of the constituencies have been identified as low impact or no impact constituencies, the study said.

The medium impact constituencies are those where it has been assumed that a Facebook user can influence one other voter who may not be on Facebook, it said.

There are 60 low impact constituencies while the remaining 256 are in no-impact category, it added.